Getting Started with ABAQUS Using the Create Isolated Point tool, create an isolated point at a horizontal distance
ing the Create Isolated Point tool, create an isolated point at a horizontal distance of 1.0 m to the right
5.5 Example: skew plate
You have been asked to model the plate shown in Figure 5–9.
Figure 5–9 Sketch of the skewed plate.
It is skewed 30° to the global 1-axis, is built-in at one end, and is constrained to move on rails parallel to
the plate axis at the other end. You are to determine the midspan deflection when the plate carries a
uniform pressure. You are also to assess whether a linear analysis is valid for this problem. You will
perform an analysis using ABAQUS/Standard.
5.5.1 Preprocessing—creating the model with ABAQUS/CAE
Use ABAQUS/CAE to create the entire model for this simulation. A Python script is provided in “Skew
plate,” Section A.3. When this script is run through ABAQUS/CAE, it creates the complete analysis
model for this problem. Run this script if you encounter difficulties following the instructions given
below or if you wish to check your work. Instructions on how to fetch and run the script are given in
Appendix A, “Example Files.”
If you do not have access to ABAQUS/CAE or another preprocessor, the input file required for this
problem can be created manually, as discussed in “Example: skew plate,” Section 5.5 of Getting Started
with ABAQUS/Standard: Keywords Version.
Before you start to build the model, decide on a system of units. The dimensions are given in cm, but the
loading and material properties are given in MPa and GPa. Since these are not consistent units, you must
choose a consistent system to use in your model and convert the necessary input data. In the following
discussion Newtons, meters, kilograms, and seconds are used.
Defining the model geometry
Start ABAQUS/CAE, and create a three-dimensional, deformable body with a planar shell base feature.
Name the part Plate, and specify an approximate part size of 4.0. A suggested approach to creating the
part geometry is outlined in the following procedure:
To sketch the plate geometry:
In the Sketcher create a vertical line of length 0.4 m using the Create Lines: Connected tool.
Using the Create Construction: Line at an Angle tool, create a construction line oriented 30° with
respect to the horizontal through each of the line's endpoints.
of the vertical line. Then, create a vertical construction line through this point.
Using the Create Lines: Connected tool, draw the skewed rectangle using the preselection points at the
intersections of the construction lines to position the corner vertices.
The final sketch is shown in Figure 5–10.
Figure 5–10 Sketch of the plate geometry (1 out of 2 grid lines visible).
In the prompt area, click Done to finish the sketch.
Defining the material and section properties and the local material directions
The plate is made of an isotropic, linear elastic material with a Young's modulus = 30 × 109 Pa and a
Poisson's ratio = 0.3. Create the material definition; name the material Steel.
The orientation of the structure in the global coordinate system is shown in Figure 5–9. The global
Cartesian coordinate system defines the default material directions, but the plate is skewed relative to this
system. It will not be easy to interpret the results of the simulation if you use the default material
directions because the direct stress in the material 1-direction, , will contain contributions from both
the axial stress, produced by the bending of the plate, and the stress transverse to the axis of the plate. It
will be easier to interpret the results if the material directions are aligned with the axis of the plate and the
transverse direction. Therefore, a local rectangular coordinate system is needed in which the local -
direction lies along the axis of the plate (i.e., at 30° to the global 1-axis) and the local -direction is also
in the plane of the plate. Following the instructions given below, define the shell section properties in a
local (nondefault) material coordinate system.
To define shell section properties and local material directions:
Define a homogeneous shell section named PlateSection. Specify that section integration be performed
before the analysis since the material is linear elastic. Assign a shell thickness of 0.8E-2 and the Steel
material definition to the section.
Define a rectangular datum coordinate system as shown in Figure 5–11 using the Create Datum CSYS:
2 Lines tool .
Figure 5–11 Datum coordinate system used to define local material directions.

From the main menu bar of the Property module, select Assign Material Orientation and select the
entire part as the region to which local material directions will be applied. In the viewport, select the
datum coordinate system created earlier. Select Axis–3 for the direction of the approximate shell normal.
No additional rotation is needed about this axis.
Tip: To verify that the local material directions have been assigned correctly, select Tools Query
from the main menu bar and perform a property query on the material orientations.
Once the part has been meshed and elements have been created in the model, all element variables will be
defined in this local coordinate system.
Finally, assign the section definition to the plate.
Creating an assembly, defining an analysis step, and specifying output requests
Create a dependent instance of the plate.
You will partition the plate in half at its midspan; this will allow you to define a set there. You will also
define additional assembly-level sets to facilitate other output request and boundary condition definitions.
To partition the plate and define geometry sets:
In the Model Tree, double-click the Plate item in the Parts container to make it current.
Partition the plate in half using the Partition Face: Shortest Path Between 2 Points tool, . Use the
midpoints of the skewed edges of the plate to create the partition shown in Figure 5–12.
Figure 5–12 Partition used to define a geometry set at the plate midspan.
In the Model Tree, expand the Assembly container and double-click the Sets item to create a geometry
set for the midspan named MidSpan. Similarly, create sets for the left and right edges of the plate and
name them EndA and EndB, respectively.
Tip: Geometry sets can be reviewed by expanding the Sets item underneath the Assembly container in
the Model Tree and then double-clicking on the set name in the list that appears. The selected set is
highlighted in the viewport, and its definition can be edited if necessary.
Next, create a single static, general step. Name the step Apply Pressure, and specify the following step
description: Uniform pressure (20 kPa) load. Accept all the default settings for the step.
Among the output you will need are the nodal displacements, reaction forces, and element stresses as field
data. These data will be used to create deformed shape plots, contour plots, and tabular data reports in the
Visualization module. You will also want to write the displacements at the midspan as history data to
create X–Y plots in the Visualization module.
To change the default output requests:
Edit the field output request so that only the nodal displacements, reaction forces, and element stresses for
the whole model are written as field data to the .odb file.
Edit the history output request so that only nodal displacements for the MidSpan geometry set are written
as history data to the .odb file.
Prescribing boundary conditions and applied loads
As shown in Figure 5–9, the left end of the plate is completely fixed; the right end is constrained to move
on rails that are parallel to the axis of the plate. Since the latter boundary condition direction does not
coincide with the global axes, you must define a local coordinate system that has an axis aligned with the
plate. You can use the datum coordinate system that you created earlier to define the local material
directions.
To assign boundary conditions in a local coordinate system:
In the Model Tree, double-click the BCs container and define a Displacement/Rotation mechanical
boundary condition named Rail boundary condition in the Apply Pressure step.
In this example you will assign boundary conditions to sets rather than to regions selected directly in the
viewport. Thus, when prompted for the regions to which the boundary condition will be applied, click
Sets in the prompt area of the viewport.
From the Region Selection dialog box that appears, select set EndB. Toggle on Highlight selections in
viewport to make sure the correct set is selected. The right edge of the plate should be highlighted. Click
Continue.
In the Edit Boundary Condition dialog box, click Edit to specify the local coordinate system in which
the boundary condition will be applied. In the viewport, select the datum coordinate system that was
created earlier to define the local directions. The local 1-direction is aligned with the plate axis.
In the Edit Boundary Condition dialog box, fix all degrees of freedom except for U1.
The right edge of the plate is now constrained to move only in the direction of the plate axis. Once the
plate has been meshed and nodes have been generated in the model, all printed nodal output quantities
associated with this region (displacements, velocities, reaction forces, etc.) will be defined in this local
coordinate system.
Complete the boundary condition definition by fixing all degrees of freedom at the left edge of the plate
(set EndA). Name this boundary condition Fix left end. Use the default global directions for this
boundary condition.
Finally, define a uniform pressure load across the top of the shell named Pressure. Select both regions of
the part using [Shift]+Click, and choose the top side of the shell (Brown) as the surface to which the
pressure load will be applied. You may need to rotate the view to more clearly distinguish the top side of
the plate. Specify a load magnitude of 2.E4 Pa.
Creating the mesh and defining a job
Figure 5–13 shows the suggested mesh for this simulation.
Figure 5–13 Suggested mesh design for the skewed plate simulation.
 Set the render style to Shaded.
Click the Normals tab.
Toggle on Show normals, and accept the default setting of On elements.
Click OK to apply the settings and to close the dialog box.
The default view is isometric. You can change the view using the options in the view menu or the view
tools (such as ) from the toolbar.
To change the view:
From the main menu bar, select View Specify.
The Specify View dialog box appears.
From the list of available methods, select Viewpoint.
Enter the -, - and -coordinates of the viewpoint vector as –0.2, –1, 0.8 and the coordinates of the
up vector as 0, 0, 1.
Click OK.
ABAQUS/CAE displays your model in the specified view, as shown in Figure 5–14.
Figure 5–14 Shell element normals in skewed plate model.

You must answer the following questions before selecting an element type: Is the plate thin or thick? Are
the strains small or large? The plate is quite thin, with a thickness-to-minimum span ratio of 0.02. (The
thickness is 0.8 cm and the minimum span is 40 cm.) While we cannot readily predict the magnitude of
the strains in the structure, we think that the strains will be small. Based on this information, choose
quadratic shell elements (S8R5) because they give accurate results for thin shells in small-strain
simulations. For further details on shell element selection, refer to “Choosing a shell element,” Section
15.6.2 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.
In the Model Tree, expand the Plate item underneath the Parts container and double-click Mesh in the
list that appears. Seed the part using a global element size of 0.1. From the main menu bar, select Mesh
Controls to specify the structured mesh technique for this model. Create a quadrilateral mesh using
quadratic, reduced-integration shell elements with five degrees of freedom per node (S8R5).
Before proceeding, rename the model to Linear. This model will later form the basis of the model used in
the skew plate example discussed in Chapter 8, “Nonlinearity.”
Define a job named SkewPlate with the following description:
Linear Elastic Skew Plate. 20 kPa Load.
Save your model in a model database file named SkewPlate.cae.
Submit the job for analysis, and monitor the solution progress; correct any modeling errors detected by
the analysis product, and investigate the cause of any warnings.
5.5.2 Postprocessing
This section discusses postprocessing with ABAQUS/CAE. Both contour and symbol plots are useful for
visualizing shell analysis results. Since contour plotting was discussed in detail in Chapter 4, “Using
Continuum Elements,” we use symbol plots here.
In the Module list located under the toolbar, click Visualization to enter the Visualization module. Then,
open the .odb file created by this job (SkewPlate.odb).
By default, ABAQUS/CAE plots the fast representation of the model. Plot the undeformed model shape
by selecting Plot Undeformed Shape from the main menu bar or by clicking the tool in the
toolbox.
Element normals
Use the undeformed shape plot to check the model definition. Check that the element normals for the
skew-plate model were defined correctly and point in the positive 3-direction.
To display the element normals:
In the prompt area, click Undeformed Shape Plot Options.
The Undeformed Shape Plot Options dialog box appears.
Symbol plots
Symbol plots display the specified variable as a vector originating from the node or element integration
points. You can produce symbol plots of most tensor- and vector-valued variables. The exceptions are
mainly nonmechanical output variables and element results stored at nodes, such as nodal forces. The
relative size of the arrows indicate the relative magnitude of the results, and the vectors are oriented along
the global direction of the results. You can plot results for the resultant of variables such as displacement
(U), reaction force (RF), etc.; or you can plot individual components of these variables.
To generate a symbol plot of the displacement:
From the main menu bar, select Result Field Output.
The Field Output dialog box appears; by default, the Primary Variable tab is selected.
From the list of output variables, select U.
From the list of components, select U3.
Click OK.
The Select Plot Mode dialog box appears.
Toggle on Symbol, and click OK.
ABAQUS/CAE displays a symbol plot of the displacements in the 3-direction on the deformed model
shape.
To modify the attributes of the symbol plot, click Symbol Options in the prompt area.
The Symbol Plot Options dialog box appears; by default, the Basic tab is selected.
To plot the symbols on the undeformed model shape, click the Shape tab and toggle on Undeformed
shape.
Click OK to apply the settings and to close the dialog box.
A symbol plot on the undeformed model shape appears, as shown in Figure 5–15.
Figure 5–15 Symbol plot of displacement.
 Select the desired nondefault section point for plotting.
In a complex model, the element edges can obscure the symbol plots. To suppress the display of the
element edges, choose Feature edges in the Basic tabbed page of the Symbol Plot Options dialog box.
Figure 5–17 shows a symbol plot of the principal stresses at the default section point with only feature
edges visible.
Figure 5–17 Feature edge plot showing vectors of principal stress.

You can plot principal values of tensor variables such as stress using symbol plots. A symbol plot of the
principal values of stress yields three vectors at every integration point, each corresponding to a principal
value oriented along the corresponding principal direction. Compressive values are indicated by arrows
pointing toward the integration point, and tensile values are indicated by arrows pointing away from the
integration point. You can also plot individual principal values.
To generate a symbol plot of the principal stresses: Material directions
From the main menu bar, select Result Field Output. ABAQUS/CAE also lets you visualize the element material directions. This feature is particularly helpful,
The Field Output dialog box appears. allowing you to ensure the correctness of the material directions.
From the list of output variables, select S; and from the list of invariants, select Max. Principal. To plot the material directions:
Click OK to apply the settings and to close the dialog box.
ABAQUS/CAE displays a symbol plot of principal stresses. From the main menu bar, select Plot Material Orientations; or click the tool in the toolbox.
To change the arrow length, click Symbol Options in the prompt area. The material orientation directions are plotted on the deformed shape. By default, the triads that represent
The Symbol Plot Options dialog box appears. the material orientation directions are plotted without arrowheads.
Click the Color & Style tab; then click the Tensor tab. To display the triads with arrowheads, click Material Orientation Options in the prompt area.
Drag the Size slider to select 2 as the arrow length. The Material Orientation Plot Options dialog box appears.
Click OK to apply the settings and to close the dialog box. Click the Color & Style tab; then click the Triad tab.
The symbol plot shown in Figure 5–16 appears. Set the Arrowhead option to use filled arrowheads in the triad.
Figure 5–16 Symbol plot of principal stresses on the bottom surface of the plate. Click OK to apply the settings and to close the dialog box.
From the main menu bar, select View Views Toolbox; or click the tool in the toolbar.
The Views toolbox appears.
Use the predefined views available in the toolbox to display the plate as shown in Figure 5–18. In this
figure, perspective is turned off. To turn off perspective, click the tool in the toolbar.
By default, the material 1-direction is colored blue, the material 2-direction is colored yellow, and, if it is
present, the material 3-direction is colored red.
Figure 5–18 Plot of material orientation directions in the plate.

The principal stresses are displayed at section point 1 by default. To plot stresses at nondefault section
points, select Result Section Points from the main menu bar to bring up the Section Points dialog
box.
 Maximum 90.2378E+06 238.323E+06 10.5216E+06 103.31E+06 70.0676E+06
18.865E+06
At Element 28 48 2 24 48 12

Int Pt 4 4 2 3 4 4
The locations Loc 1 and Loc 2 identify the section point in the element where the stress was calculated.
Loc 1 (corresponding to section point 1) lies on the SNEG surface of the shell, and Loc 2 (corresponding
to section point 3) lies on the SPOS surface. Local material directions have been used for the element: the
stresses refer to a local coordinate system.
Check that the small-strain assumption was valid for this simulation. The axial strain corresponding to the
peak stress is 0.0079. Since the strain is typically considered small if it is less than 4 or 5%, a
strain of 0.0079 is well within the appropriate range to be modeled with S8R5 elements.
Look at the reaction forces and moments in the following table:
Field Output Report

Source 1
---------
Evaluating results based on tabular data ODB: SkewPlate.odb
Additional postprocessing can be performed by examining printed data. With the aid of display groups, Step: "Apply pressure"
create a tabular data report of the whole model element stresses (components S11, S22, and S12), the Frame: Increment 1: Step Time = 1.000
reaction forces at the supported nodes (sets EndA and EndB), and the displacements of the midspan
nodes (set MidSpan). The stress data are shown below. Loc 1 : Nodal values from source 1
Field Output Report
Output sorted by column "Node Label".
Source 1
--------- Field Output reported at nodes for Region(s) PLATE-1: ...
ODB: SkewPlate.odb Node RF.RF1 RF.RF2 RF.RF3 RM.RM1 RM.RM2 RM.RM3
Step: "Apply pressure" Label @Loc 1 @Loc 1 @Loc 1 @Loc 1 @Loc 1 @Loc 1
Frame: Increment 1: Step Time = 1.000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 0. 0. 37.3918 -1.59908 -76.494 0.
Loc 1 : Integration point values at shell general ... : SNEG, (fraction = -1.0) 4 0. 0. -109.834 1.77236 -324.41E-03 0.
Loc 2 : Integration point values at shell general ... : SPOS, (fraction = 1.0) 5 0. 0. 37.3913 1.59906 76.494 0.
6 0. 0. -109.834 -1.77236 324.418E-03 0.
Output sorted by column "Element Label". 15 0. 0. 73.6364 8.75019 -62.2242 0.
16 0. 0. 260.424 6.95105 -51.1181 0.
Field Output reported at integration points for Region(s) PLATE-1: ... 17 0. 0. 239.685 6.56987 -35.4374 0.
28 0. 0. 73.6355 -8.75019 62.2241 0.
Element Int S.S11 S.S11 S.S22 S.S22 S.S12 S.S12 29 0. 0. 260.424 -6.95106 51.1182 0.
Label Pt @Loc 1 @Loc 2 @Loc 1 @Loc 2 @Loc 1 @Loc 2 30 0. 0. 239.685 -6.56989 35.4374 0.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 116 0. 0. 6.1538 7.5915 -36.4275 0.
1 1 79.7614E+06 -79.7614E+06 1.1085E+06 -1.1085E+06 -5.86291E+06 5.86291E+06 119 0. 0. 455.132 6.80781 -88.237 0.
1 2 83.7703E+06 -83.7703E+06 7.14559E+06 -7.14559E+06 -8.00706E+06 8.00706E+06 121 0. 0. 750.805 8.31069 -126.462 0.
1 3 66.9385E+06 -66.9385E+06 2.79241E+06 -2.79241E+06 -1.98396E+06 1.98396E+06 123 0. 0. 2.28661E+03 31.0977 -205.818 0.
1 4 72.3479E+06 -72.3479E+06 5.05957E+06 -5.05957E+06 -7.0819E+06 7.0819E+06 170 0. 0. 6.15408 -7.5915 36.4274 0.
. 173 0. 0. 455.133 -6.80783 88.237 0.
. 175 0. 0. 750.806 -8.31071 126.462 0.
48 1 -142.755E+06 142.755E+06 -56.0747E+06 56.0747E+06 21.007E+06 -21.007E+06 177 0. 0. 2.28661E+03 -31.0978 205.818 0.
48 2 -118.848E+06 118.848E+06 -7.21449E+06 7.21449E+06 4.00065E+06 -4.00065E+06
48 3 -187.19E+06 187.19E+06 -103.31E+06 103.31E+06 50.352E+06 -50.352E+06 Minimum 0. 0. -109.834 -31.0978 -205.818 0.
48 4 -238.323E+06 238.323E+06 -84.7331E+06 84.7331E+06 70.0676E+06 -70.0676E+06 At Node 177 177 6 177 123 177
Minimum -238.323E+06 -90.2378E+06 -103.31E+06 -10.5216E+06 -18.865E+06 - Maximum 0. 0. 2.28661E+03 31.0977 205.818 0.
70.0676E+06 At Node 177 177 123 123 177 177
At Element 48 28 24 2 12 48
Total 0. 0. 8.E+03 -129.7E-06 -61.0352E-06 0.
Int Pt 4 4 3 2 4 4
The reaction forces are written in the global coordinate system. Check that the sum of the reaction forces
and reaction moments with the corresponding applied loads is zero. The nonzero reaction force in the 3-
direction equilibrates the vertical force of the pressure load (20 kPa × 1.0 m × 0.4 m). In addition to the
reaction forces, the pressure load causes self-equilibrating reaction moments at the constrained rotational
degrees of freedom.
The table of displacements (which is not shown here) shows that the midspan deflection across the plate
is approximately 5.3 cm, which is approximately 5% of the plate's length. By running this as a linear
analysis, we assume the displacements to be small. It is questionable whether these displacements are
truly small relative to the dimensions of the structure; nonlinear effects may be important, requiring
further investigation. In this case we need to perform a geometrically nonlinear analysis, which is
discussed in Chapter 8, “Nonlinearity.”